Hail a cab with confidence

That’s the message behind the launch of Safe Journey Home - an Internet-driven initiative designed to inspire safer travel by taxi.

www.safejourneyhome.co.uk has been started up as an online service directed towards allaying the fears of travellers over their personal safety being compromised when making taxi journeys with a complete stranger at the wheel and also towards preventing dangerous situations developing.

“It’s all about helping to reassure people, about removing the vulnerability they can sometimes feel when taking a taxi and about getting them to take responsibility for and control of their own safety,” explains Stuart Davidson, of Glasgow, the site’s founder.

“For many people, especially women and the young, safety is an important consideration in using a taxi. Now, with our service, there is the opportunity to take sensible precautions to ensure that going out for a good time and getting home safely afterwards by taxi is risk-free. That’s why I believe there will be an enthusiastic response to the introduction of the Safe Journey Home website and to being a regular user of the service,” adds 28-year-old Stuart.

The site also has directories of customer-friendly taxi firms and entertainment venues located in various parts of Scotland which are keen to support the safety drive. Clubbers, cinema-goers, theatre-goers, night-shift workers, etc, can book an approved taxi from the website’s Taxi Directory section. Members can also get access to exclusive special offers for clubs and restaurants.

Both Community Safety Departments of Strathclyde Police and Lothian and Borders Police are endorsing the initiative as a move that promotes confidence among passengers while also enhancing security for taxi drivers. They see it as complementing existing services such as Glasgow City’s Night Zone which sees late-night taxi queues chaperoned by wardens.

Chief Inspector Brian Connell of Strathclyde Police Community Safety Department said he had no hesitation in recommending that members of the public who feel uncomfortable about using taxis register their details and mobile phone number on the website and avail themselves of the protection that the new service is setting out to provide to taxi-users free of charge.

As soon as they get into a taxi taking them to a destination, members can use their mobile phone to text the Safe Journey Home telephone number 07786 200 699 with details of the taxi licence number, registration plate number, and the make, model and colour of the vehicle as well as the date and time of the journey. This information, according to Safe Journey Home, will be stored in a secure, password-protected electronic database and be made available to the police if they are later called upon to investigate a reported incident during a taxi journey made by a member.

Taxi firms subscribing to the Safe Journey Home campaign, gain, according to Stuart, from having the three-fold advantage of (a) being able to promote themselves as providers of a safe means of transport, of (b) improving the security of their own drivers, who at times can feel threatened by a passenger in the back seat, and of (c) increased bookings and revenue. Entertainment venues subscribing to the service benefit, likewise, from showing site members their concern for their safety and from being able to use their listing as an introduction to the site membership in their area and being able to contact them using the website’s email and text marketing campaign services.

Taxi operators, including independent taxi owners, who have a listing on the website will be supplied with promotional leaflets and vehicle stickers to publicise their membership of the Safe Journey Home movement. Marketing material also will be supplied to subscribing entertainment venues.

Safe Journey Homes will help create, as the website says, “a community of travellers, taxi firms and entertainment venues in Scotland working together to create a safer way of travelling for all parties concerned.”